Dangers of running
by Bouncy cat
Summary: Kaidoh has a very bad day.


Kaidoh ran, his breath rhythmically puffing from between his slightly opened lips. The early morning breeze was just chilly enough to feel soothing on his heated skin, and he closed his eyes for just a second, enjoying the moment.

Sometimes he thought that, maybe, he was just a tiny bit addicted to running. If he ran long enough he reached this point where he felt like he could keep going forever. Like there was nothing, no one, in the whole world capable of stopping him.

It felt good.

Increasing his pace a little he sped around a corner.

"Hsssss" A loud hiss, not unlike his own, startled Kaidoh and he nearly tripped in his haste to stop.

His eyes widened in shock as a skinny grey cat jumped two feet into the air and then raced into the street.

Kaidoh saw the car that was fast approaching, heard the screeching tires and then his sight was blocked by a car that came from the opposite direction.

Ignoring blaring horns he dashed into the street searching for the cat.

A young woman stepped out of her car. She looked upset. "I think I hit it!"

Right that moment Kaidoh saw a grey tail disappearing into the bushes by the roadside and he ran after it. The woman yelled after him that she was sorry, but he ignored her. If the cat was hit it had to be hurt.

The bushes were dense and nettles stung his bare legs as he tried to work his way in. It was no use though, he couldn't get further than a couple of feet before thick branches and dense shrubbery stopped him. He stared intently into the dark undergrowth, hoping to catch a glimpse of the kitten, but aside from mosquitoes and spiders, nothing moved.

Finally he gave up. He could only hope the poor thing was alright. He felt horribly guilty. It was his fault, if he hadn't dashed around the corner like that the cat wouldn't have been startled and it wouldn't have run onto the road and gotten hit by a car.

What had he been thinking anyway? He berated himself, what if he'd bumped into some little old lady when he came storming around the corner…He could have hit her; caused her to fall…she could have broken her hip or hit her head. He could have killed someone…

As he turned to get back to the road his left foot caught behind a branch and he hopped with his right foot to avoid falling. The uneven ground made him lose his balance anyway and his ankle twisted painfully. With effort he managed to stay upright, but as he walked back to the sidewalk he felt a pang in his ankle with every step.

Slowly he made his way to school, keeping as much pressure off his right foot as he could without obviously limping. The last thing he wanted right now was to have people asking him if he was alright.

Along the way he scanned the streets for any sight of the grey cat, but he didn't see anything. He wished there was some way of finding out where she lived so he could check up on her.

Maybe Inui-senpai would know a way. He didn't think there was any problem Inui would not be able to fix somehow.

Then he remembered. Inui had told him that this Friday he would be going to the dentist in the morning and he would arrive at school later than usual.

A feeling of dismay surged through him. It was weird how much he depended on Inui when he felt bad about something. Whether it be tennis or his grades or something else that worried him, Inui always seemed to know when something was bothering him and usually, by a process of elimination, he was able to deduce what it was.

He guessed that this was how it felt to have a best friend.

Kaidoh was glad when he finally made it to Seigaku's tennis courts. But his relief didn't last long.

"Hey Mamushi!"

Kaidoh hissed angrily, he didn't want to deal with the idiot. His day had started badly enough as it was.

Of course then the idiot had to block his way. "Hey Mamushi, I'm talking to you! What happened? You look like shit! Did you fight with someone? Did you fight?"

"Fsssshuuu!"

"Eh. I'm surprised someone wanted to fight with you, your face is so scary it would chase anyone away!"

Momoshiro laughed at him and suddenly Kaidoh couldn't keep his anger under control anymore. He swung and hit his unprepared teammate full on the cheek.

Momoshiro stared up at him from the ground with a surprised look, hand pressed to his cheek. His lip was bleeding.

Suddenly Kaidoh felt guilty, he shouldn't have hit that hard. Momoshiro's comments weren't even-

"Kaidoh! 50 laps!"

_Tezuka_. Kaidoh winced, his buchou didn't sound this angry very often. "But-"

"No! This is unacceptable Kaidoh!"

Kaidoh bowed his head in shame. He deserved his punishment and he shouldn't speak back to a senpai like that. Maybe if he ran slowly his ankle wouldn't bother him that much. It was already feeling better than it had at the park.

Slowly he started his first lap, ignoring the twinges in his ankle.

After the first two laps Kaidoh knew he would never be able to run 50 laps without injuring himself permanently. Now visibly limping he turned to catch the eye of Tezuka-buchou or Oishi-senpai. Even Eiji-senpai, but all his senpai were looking the other way. If only Inui-senpai had been here…He would have noticed something was wrong immediately. Nothing got past his senpai.

It felt wrong to just stop running when he didn't have permission to stop. It was disrespectful. When someone finally looked his way it wasn't the person he wanted. _Echizen_. Kaidoh blushed and faltered in his half hobbling run.

Echizen stared at him from under his cap and then promptly turned to Oishi-senpai. The senpai had to bow down to hear the words Echizen said to him. Oishi threw a worried look in Kaidoh's direction and stepped up to Tezuka.

The buchou finally turned and frowned in his direction and Kaidoh fell completely still. As their captain started walking towards him Kaidoh avoided his gaze and simply stared at the ground. His eyes started to burn and he blinked rapidly. He would _not_ cry in front of his buchou.

"Kaidoh?" Buchou sounded surprisingly gentle.

"I tripped in the bushes and hurt my ankle. I can't run my laps." Kaidoh blurted out.

"You should have said something," Tezuka said, sounding displeased again. "I would have given you some other punishment."

Kaidoh kept his gaze fixed on the ground. He didn't know what to say.

"You can run these laps when your ankle is better; I'm adding 20 because you didn't tell me about your injury. After all Inui's warnings you should know better than to be so careless with your body, especially since we have the tournament in two weeks."

Kaidoh flushed at the reprimand. This was really turning out to be one of the worst days he's ever had. Maybe he should have stayed in bed this morning.

"Come, I'll take you to the nurse's office."

Tezuka put an arm around him and started walking him to the school building.

Of course in Seigaku the regulars never went to the nurse alone; when one of them was injured the rest always ended up tagging along.

Oishi came because he felt it was his duty as the vice-captain and the most medically literate person of their group. Eiji came because he wanted to cheer his injured teammate up with hugs and encouragement. Taka-san came simply because he cared. Momoshiro, since the injured party was Kaidoh, came to gloat, and Echizen came because there was no one left to play tennis with.

When they arrived at the nurse's office it was empty, as it always seemed to be when Kaidoh needed medical attention.

Oishi took charge. He sat Kaidoh down and turned his foot in this direction and that, pushing and prodding at it, asking him when it hurt. Finally he declared it not broken and wrapped Kaidoh's ankle up neatly.

"Hey Kaidoh? What is this?"

Kaidoh looked down at the spot the fuku-buchou indicated near the inside of his knee. There was a tiny brownish red bump there. Strange, he couldn't remember that being there this morning.

"Eh?" Eiji suddenly screeched. "Oishi! It wriggled!"

Oishi pushed Kaidoh's leg to the side and had a closer look. Then he jerked away slightly and Kaidoh got scared. Something was moving on his body?

"Oh dear," Oishi finally muttered. "I'm afraid you have a tick Kaidoh."

"Eh?" A tick? He shuddered at the thought.

Momoshiro snorted at the news. "Figures you'd get a tick, ticks like animals."

Kaidoh was only vaguely aware of Momoshiro's ramblings about pets and animals and ticks. He stared at the bump on his leg, wanting to scratch it off. But his mother had told him that if you did that with a tick, the head remained behind and would have to be cut out.

"Kaidoh? Where do you think you got it? Running in the park?"

Kaidoh looked up at Oishi and shook his head.

"Where then?"

"I was in the bushes," he muttered.

"Nya Kaidoh! Why were you in the bushes? Were you hiding? Were you spying on someone?" Eiji sounded rather excited at the thought.

"I was looking for a cat," he muttered even softer.

Echizen surprised everyone by suddenly speaking up. "Was it yours? Did your cat run away?"

Kaidoh shook his head again. "I was running, the cat got startled."

"And…?" Oishi prodded gently.

"It ran into the road. Got hit. Ran into the bushes. I couldn't find it."

Beside him, Echizen tensed, pulling down his cap and staring at the ground. "What did it look like?"

Kaidoh didn't need Inui senpai to figure out what his kouhai was thinking. He tugged at Echizen's sleeve until the boy looked up at him. "Not Karupin."

The boys shoulders sagged a little in relief and Kaidoh felt a little happy for being able to reassure his kouhai. But then he felt guilty again, because it may not have been Echizen's cat he killed, but it still was someone else's.

"You should go to a doctor, Kaidoh-kun, to have it removed."

_The tick_ But where should he go? Kaidoh didn't even know where his family's doctor held practice. He was almost never sick. Of course, after the memory loss that one time, his mother would have made him see the doctor; which was why he didn't tell her. Kaidoh didn't particularly like doctors, or dentists, or anyone whose job it was to poke and prod Kaidoh and give him bad news.

"We have a tick-pen." Echizen suddenly offered. "Nanako-chan knows how to remove them."


End file.
